July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. hasn’t done enough to
satisfy an investigation by multiple states into whether it
adequately screens illegal drug advertisements and illicit
online videos, Mississippi’s top law enforcement official said.

Now state Attorney General Jim Hood plans to demand
additional information from Google to see if the company is
profiting from those activities.

“What they tell you in a meeting sounds good but then you
can go online and check it out and it’s not true,” said Hood,
who was elected president of the National Association of
Attorneys General in June.

The demand shows state and federal governments stepping up
enforcement actions against large companies to curb online sales
of counterfeit and illegal goods and content, which have grown
into an $18 billion underground industry, according to Javelin
Strategy & Research Inc. FedEx Corp. was charged by the U.S. on
July 17 for delivering prescription pain pills, sedatives and
other controlled substances shipped by illegal Internet
pharmacies. In 2011, Google agreed to forfeit $500 million to
settle Justice Department allegations that advertising on its
site by Canadian pharmacies led to illegal imports of
prescription drugs.

Google said it takes user safety seriously and continually
removes illegal ads and content, such as videos exploiting
children. The Mountain View, California, company operates the
Web’s largest search engine, as well as video-sharing website
YouTube.

Mississippi plans to issue a civil investigative demand --
similar to a subpoena -- for “documents and e-mails about how
they screen or don’t screen videos and ads” and “how they
place ads beside videos,” Hood said.

Rogue Pharmacies

Two dozen attorneys general sent Google a letter in
December alleging the company profits off “dangerous and
illegal content” and that its services promote illicit and
prescription-free drugs. The letter was followed by in-person
meetings with company executives in January and February, Hood
said.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a separate
letter to Google in January that the company’s search and
autocomplete functions make it easy to find illegal drugs,
counterfeit goods, and people being trafficked for labor or sex.

“Google can clearly do more to ensure that its services do
not steer users toward illegal online content,” Bondi wrote.
Jennifer Meale, a spokeswoman for the office, declined to
comment about the investigation.

Serious Safety

Hood said he believes other state attorneys will join him
in the civil investigative demand. New Mexico Attorney General
Gary King supports demanding information from Google if the
company doesn’t voluntarily provide what the states are seeking,
spokesman Phil Sisneros said. Other officials who signed the
letter wouldn’t confirm whether they will join the effort.

A Google spokeswoman, Niki Christoff, described actions the
company has taken to block illegal ads and content related to
the exploitation of children.

“We take the safety of our users very seriously and we’ve
explained to Attorney General Hood how we enforce policies to
combat rogue online pharmacies and counterfeit drugs,”
Christoff said in an e-mail.

Google removed more than 350 million bad ads in 2013, up
from 220 million in 2012, while attempts to market counterfeit
goods through its online services decreased by 47 percent in
2012 and 82 percent in 2013, according to company statistics.

The company announced in 2013 that it would provide $3
million in grants to organizations working around the world to
protect children, and $2 million for developing new technology
to tag and delete online images of child exploitation.

Active Issue

The offices for state attorneys in Hawaii, Florida,
Colorado, Arkansas, New Mexico, Alaska and Oregon said they
continue to probe online practices.

“There have been additional meetings and discussions since
the issuance of the letter back in December” and “the issue
remains active,” David Blake, a deputy attorney general for
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, said in an e-mail.

“Addressing illegal and illicit behavior online continues
to be a priority for the Oregon Department of Justice,”
Kristina Edmunson, spokeswoman for Oregon Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum, said in an e-mail. “We look forward to continuing to
work with other states to address this problem, and ensure the
safety of all Oregonians online.”

Google was aware as early as 2003 that Canadian pharmacies
were advertising prescription drugs to Google users in the U.S.
through the company’s AdWords advertising program, according to
the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Rhode Island, which led the
enforcement effort resulting in the 2011 settlement.

Online Pharmacies

The company was aware U.S. consumers were making online
purchases of prescription drugs, and that many of the pharmacies
distributed medicines based on an online consultation rather
than a valid prescription, according to the U.S. attorney in
Rhode Island.

Google was accused in 2012 by Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott of withholding documents in a separate antitrust
investigation into the company’s practices. Texas sued Google to
force the company to turn over the information.

YouTube guidelines “prohibit any content encouraging
illegal activities, including videos promoting the sale of
illegal goods,” said Christoff, the company spokeswoman.

“YouTube’s review teams respond to videos flagged for our
attention around the clock, removing millions of videos each
year that violate our policies,” she said.

Google has “stringent advertising guidelines” and works
“to prevent ads appearing against any video, channel or page
once we determine that the content is not appropriate for our
advertising partners,” Christoff said.

Block Videos

In June, an Internet-safety group called the Digital
Citizens Alliance, accused YouTube of failing to block the
videos selling stolen credit card data while profiting from
legitimate advertisements that run next to them. Doing a search
for how to get valid 2014 credit card numbers yielded almost
16,000 results, according to the group’s report.

In one example, a video selling stolen credit card
information was posted next to an ad for Target Corp., which
suffered one of the worst breaches in history in December when
hackers stole data for millions of the retailer’s customers.

YouTube said at the time that it removes millions of videos
each year that violate its policies prohibiting content that
encourages illegal activities.